Despite 3 million users, Facebook shuts down breakup notifier app

Facebook has shut down an app that got 3 million users in just a few days. Image: Flickr / moneyblognewz / CC-BY

New apps are offered on Facebook each day with little fanfare. However, when Facebook shut down the breakup notifier app without explanation, millions noticed. Facebook has also broken up with creator Dan Loewenherz without explanation.

Facebook shuts down breakup notifier app

In less than a week, the breakup notifier app gained more than 3 million users. The Facebook breakup notifier app kept track of friends who users chose and provided a notification when their relationship status changed. The app didn’t provide any more information than Facebook’s “relationship status” function in the profile, but the breakup notifier app brought the information front-and-center. On Wednesday, two days after breakup notifier hit tech news circles, Facebook shut down the app.

Why the breakup notifier was shut down

Dan Loewenherz, the creator of the breakup notifier, says he is not sure why the app was shut down. He has shared the e-mail he received from Facebook, which said:

“To ensure positive user experiences on Platform, we run routine automated screens that take user feedback, machine learning and various algorithms into account and remove spammy applications.”

In short, Facebook believes that the breakup notifier app may have been taking too much memory and was triggered as spam. Loewenherz, however, was not offered any explanation for why his personal account was shut down.

Benefit to Facebook for shutting down app

Facebook is currently making money off of the development of Facebook Credits. The curious thing to most users of the breakup notifier app is that Facebook may have been able to make more money off of allowing the application to continue and use Facebook Credits rather than shutting down the app. Users who have responded angrily to Facebook for shutting down the app are saying the company “does not have the right,” but Facebook is currently a private company that has written its right to do so into the terms of service.